Remnant of Perfection
by Lily d'Jerusalem
Summary: Post 07 movie Pre RotF. More Autobots are landing, but it takes a rash of disappearances to make them realize everything is not as it seems. When a librarian is drawn in, it turns out to be a very good thing, just not for her car or the Bahamas.
1. Chapter 1: Julian Star

Remnant of Perfection

Chapter 1: Julian Star

A/N: I just want to give a big thanks to my beta Dinogrrl, your cultural notes were so very helpful. Also I'm going to try and update this about every week. I'm hopeful. There's also some supplemental material (soundtrack, artwork, etc) here (take spaces out where necessary): desertcastle. piczo. com /remnanthome

There was never a more beautiful place to be, the sky was unbelievably clear, a corona shining brightly around the moon and the stars shimmering in the sky. The only comparable place for Messina Leading would have been on CA-1 on a partly cloudy day. Even that had a hard time holding up to what she would see once she exited the small mountain pass and began to descend into the valley. Her visit to the small historian's club had been very pleasant but they always were happy to have her up to discuss things. It was late though and she would be very happy once she finally made it back to her small home. But there was an odd pitch to the car and Messina would never in her life ignore a possible ailment in her beloved vehicle so she had to investigate. As she came around a bend in the road she spotted the old Cliffhanger restaurant which was still closed for renovations. They had been working on repairs the past few times she had driven by even using floodlights on cloudy days and dark evenings to continue their work for the closely approaching reopening. It was empty though, later than the time pressed owner liked to keep at repairs and made it the perfect spot in Messina's mind to stop. After parking in the small lot she snuck into the restaurant and ferreted out the light, making sure to plug it in before taking it out to her car.

But she stopped at the threshold, simply amazed at an incredibly bright light that had appeared in the sky. "But the papers didn't mention any comets or meteors..." she muttered while standing transfixed, something not letting her budge as she watched the light grow brighter and larger. A few moments later she realized that the meteor was going to land incredibly close, and that it was possible it would damage her car. And that wouldn't be good, she cried if so much as her car's paint got scratched. And she was quite proud of how well she had ghost painted the phoenix on the hood, the reddish purple and gold partially made visible from the glow of the city below hitting it at just the right angle. Before she could move though, a piercing screech filled the air which caused her to double over, an explosion occurring but a few yards in front of her. Dust and shrapnel flew past her, stinging her eyes, a piece of twisted metal slamming firmly into her shoulder and cutting deeply.

"Hephaestus!"

The first thing she could think of wasn't her own injury, not that something had obviously exploded; the only thing she could think of was her beloved Corvette. The dust settled slowly in the warm summer's night, barely delaying her discovery of what she feared most. Her car was completely totalled, what she could only deem a right ugly space loogie sat atop the majority of the remains of her freshly painted Corvette though several chunks of fibreglass and ancient computer gadgetry had impaled themselves in the landscape and building.

"No." She shook her head. "No... No, no, no!"

Each utterance of the word became more strained with the horror of what had just happened, tears streaming forth readily. She couldn't even approach the remnants of the old car, her knees buckled underneath her each time she tried to step closer to free the poor dear of the large meteorite sitting atop it.

She never suspected the offending space detritus to move in anyway by itself, and especially not for it to shift and transform. Within moments a several story tall robot-like _thing_ stood before her, destroying even more of what was left of her car. The looming creature was simply staring at her, making no move to apologize, not even step off of her poor automobile. It didn't pass through her mind that whatever was atop the remains of her once beautiful machine probably did not realize what it had done. To her the fact that this creature was obviously not just a rock made it completely responsible for its offense whether or not it in any way could understand what it had done. And really she had no thoughts of self preservation either as it didn't matter that the thing could step on her and kill her, the shock of it all focussed her on the loss of her car.

"You killed Hephaestus! You bastard, you horrid piece of junk, you decimated my beloved Hephaestus!" She wanted to continue berating the strange thing in front of her but her voice gave out as a second wave of tears hit full force and choked her up, sending her from on her knees to beating her fist to the ground as she collapsed forward. Her heart was torn into ever tinier pieces as she spoke what she had hoped was not really real. She had hoped that maybe she was just nodding off, maybe she'd gone off the road and hit a guardrail. That wouldn't be too hard to fix, not at all. But she knew that truly her car had just met a new form of total loss.

A few more guttural sounds escaped her throat as tears sprang forth easily. She couldn't take it, her car meant the world to her and she didn't even care that she was effectively stranded in the mountains with something completely unknown staring at her. She couldn't begin to process that because every time she thought of the odd spectre it just slammed home the fact that it was standing on what was for the most part left of the car she loved and spent the better part of five years restoring. She curled up in the restaurant's door frame, bawling her heart out and hoping that whatever it was would be hostile and would promptly put her out of her misery.

"J-just kill me too!" She rasped out in her fit of misery. "J-just kill me t-too."

The idea that the car she had worked so hard to save up for then repair had been taken from her in such a horrid manner was too much for her. She felt as if a husband or close friend had been murdered in front of her. She couldn't imagine life without it. Him.

* * *

Tracks stood completely perplexed. Planet fall had been... rough, he'd landed on some decidedly not empty piece of soil and now one of the locals he'd been trying to avoid until he got a suitable disguise seemed to have been injured as well if her severe show of distress was any indication. He didn't want to have the poor little thing shut down just because atmospheric interference had wrought havoc on a few of his landing system. The things looked decidedly fragile, their lack of any outer armouring to protect their weaker workings and their small size seemed like a great risk if her leaking shoulder was any indication. Without at least a moderate amount of aid he figured it might be severely at risk for a system failure so he decided to scan an alternate mode quickly and deposit her at one of the numerous medical buildings in the vicinity as shown by a map from their data network.

But there was nothing to scan. Nothing on his radar even except the remains of what he had landed in. Glancing at the shrapnel he couldn't help but feel a bit bad, his processor was able to piece together parts of the dark blue vehicle and it had been positively pleasing to the optic sensors. He then spied a small slightly singed wood paste booklet resting safely in a piece of dark sturdy looking plastic which announced itself to be a "82 Corvette Owner's Manual". The most interesting note being written below the title listing several schematic drawings which supposedly covered every bit of the car. A quick search on their data network for the title delivered an electric version which he was able to download and scan through. The schematics from the book in combination with the partially intact paint on the wreckage provided enough to go off of.

To be honest it felt kind right when he shifted into his new alternate mode and he thought that perhaps this form was better than his alternate Cybertronian form. It certainly was aerodynamic and most definitely shapely.

But he had other priorities at the moment, the small organic creature had sputtered some more and continued shaking, completely oblivious to Tracks's new look. He doubted scooping her up and racing down the mountainside to the local college's medical facilities (which the map had said was the closest) would do more than put her more at risk for expiration. He needed to calm her down which he doubted he could do but she needed to be a bit more stable or else transport might do as much harm as good. "You need medical attention." He said, the engine rumbled melodically as he rolled over to the distraught little thing.

Her head tilted up, eyes widening as her mind still clouded but registered that the car she had just seen destroyed was now pristine in front of her again. "Heph... Sweetheart!" She crawled forward, collapsing against the quarter panel. But then she spotted the debris from her automobile and pushed a bit away from the unsullied copy.

"No, I believe the detritus around us is the 'Heph' you mean. I am an autonomous robotic life form from the planet Cybertron, _my_ designation is Tracks." She fell backwards, eyes wide. It... It had just spoken? That meant it was in fact sentient, culpable.

That silent shock didn't last long though. "You sound pretty high tech."

A confirming noise came from within the pseudo-car.

"Then why the hell can't you have landed a few yards either way? Fucking high tech my ass!" She leaned forward and beat her fists on the decidedly more sturdy and not fibreglass quarter panel. She wasn't going to give this 'Tracks' a moment to interject.

"You've obliterated my Hephaestus!" She slammed her fists on him again.

"Seven years of my life down the drain!" Smack!

"And now I'm completely stranded!" Slam!

She couldn't help but break into tears again, collapsing once more against the alien posing as a Corvette.

* * *

"I am truly sorry about what has happened to your automobile, perhaps I can assist in transporting you and your vehicle's remains to your residence?" He should have been more careful in his approach of the planet, and he could delay in finding Optimus Prime to help out a local whom he had troubled in the first place. The transmission had said the Decepticons had been defeated, and if this was going to be their new home, temporary or otherwise, it would do well to interact in a positive way with the local inhabitants.

The small human stood up, shaky but able to. A good sign as to its chances of survival. "Oh, then what?" Her voice was very high in tone and just as unstable as her legs seemed to be. "I'll be stranded there not even able to fetch replacement parts for the repair work! _If_ I'm even going to be able to repair this mess!"

Surely the most basic of repairs to get her vehicle road worthy would not take more than a few solar cycles. Even this scattered jigsaw puzzle wasn't that much of a mess to Tracks, and he didn't even specialize in repair work. "I am completely willing to assist with that for as long as it takes to get your vehicle into basic working order again." Tracks said, hoping his calm demeanor would spread to her.

It seemed to. She was looking at him with widened eyes, her voice small in her reply, "Really?"

He gently revved the engine of his new earth form as an affirmative.

"That's a stand up thing to do Tracks." She said after a moment, shakily standing and dusting herself off. "I guess the first thing to do would be to transport as much of this mess back to my house as we can. I can't afford to replace everything." She surveyed the open area where everything was scattered, and let out a low whistle. Her mouth shifted into a new expression, a smile his search told him. "And I bet meteors fall into the Act of God clause of my insurance."

Her words puzzled him but if nothing else she seemed in a better condition than she had previously been. It was a start.


	2. Chapter 2: Decrescendo

Remnant of Perfection

Chapter 2: Decrescendo

A/N: Sorry this is a few days late, its been ready since I posted the first chapter but I had a conference I was presenting at on Saturday and was really busy preparing for that so I kept unconnected from the internet to avoid distraction. Then I got distracted by Sci-fi's horror movies. _Stay Alive, Dick Tracy_, and _Crow: Salvation _were really good for the normal B-movies they put on.

Sam sighed, the fact that his teachers thought a summer reading list was a good idea was completely annoying but the fact that it was several pages long made him wonder how sane they were. Of course he had procrastinated until a few weeks before school started but it was all the Decepticons' fault. He needed time to recuperate from the battle in Mission City and that had eaten up most of his summer. Not to mention helping the Autobots to learn some of the finer details of human culture. He never wanted to have to explain that you don't actually rest in a restroom and what activities you perform in said room again.

When he looked out his bedroom window he saw Bee sitting in the driveway, dusty and dirty from their trips out to the Autobots' temporary meeting place. It didn't seem so temporary anymore which was probably a bad thing as it was completely out in the open. It had a killer view though. He hoped that their new place would have a view like that or at least some of the awesome country roads that they currently took as those were always a blast. Especially when Bee would let him have control of the steering wheel. Then again, if it weren't for those country roads he wouldn't need to wash Bee once a week. It was just so awkward knowing that your car is alive and that in essence you're totally intruding in on their shower.

Mikaela popped her head in through his bedroom's door. "Hey Sam."

Sam scrambled on his bed, sending a couple open books several which ways and stumbling on words before he managed to say, "H-hi Mikaela." He doubted he'd ever lose his dorky ways around her. It didn't help that he hadn't been expecting her to suddenly appear in his room.

She smiled and came into the room, backpack slung over her shoulder. "I was thinking we could go up to the lake and do our reading assignments together. I tried to call your cell but you didn't answer and I figured you weren't too busy so I walked over. Your mom thought it was a terrific idea."

The mental image of his mother very serious faced giving him a thumbs up flashed through his mind. He nodded dumbly, grabbing a couple of random books and papers and shoving them into his backpack. He then grabbed his jacket off the back of his desk chair and stumbled over to the door. Mikaela rolled her eyes at him and snatched up a small book from his desk. "Forgetting something?"

He stared the book down. "Mr. Morrison's only assignment. Right."

"Come on, I bet Bee will like stretching his legs a bit what with you cramming the last week and all." When they got down to Bee she rolled her eyes. "I bet he'd like a wash too."

"Well, ah, maybe we could do it up at the lake- you know, give him a wash."

She smiled at Sam, even when he was trying to be smooth and serious he was the most hilarious guy she knew and it was great.

* * *

Messina turned on the hose again, rinsing the soap foam from Tracks's sun warmed hood. "I must say Messina this is one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever encountered." Sure wash racks got the job done but a hand washing was infinitely more delightful. The warm water trickled down over the curved planes of his alternate mode. Soon Messina grabbed a fluffy towel from where it was sitting on the front step and sopped up all the water that hadn't dripped off of him. Then she used the moist towel to clean the grime from crevices neither he nor a sponge could dream of getting at once she had dried the more easily cleaned areas.

"Tracks dear, you're purring like a cat." She said with an amused smile but didn't stop in her meticulous care. She was on autopilot and as it was Sunday and sunny out that meant it was time to wash her car. After wiping down his interior she pulled out a bottle of leather and trim conditioner and went to work at full on cleaning the seats, dash and shifter box before sitting in the driver's seat to clean the steering wheel and column. She was quite quick with her work. While she had a feeling this was a treat for Tracks and she wanted to be as nice to him as he was to her she still had a pile of scrap to fix back up. "You all dry?"

Tracks's response was delayed and came lazily and contentedly, "Yes, I believe I am. No wax today?"

Messina chuckled. "First Sunday of the month only, I need every moment I can spare for working on Heph. I should be able to finally fibreglass the second quarter panel tonight. Once I get all the basic fibreglass done I can redo all the internals and he'll be drivable at least." She ran her hands over the steering wheel which was still slightly slick from the fresh leather conditioner.

"Is this fibreglass business really that complicated that it takes a deca-cycle to do? I didn't realise that your repairs in total would take more than half of one."

She leaned back in the seat. "I'm not quite sure how long a deca-cycle is but I should be able to get Heph into workable condition in another month give or take. Its not like I've got stock moulds of the body laying around and while I'd love to just buy some bodywork I don't have the money. I'll just have to hope that a cop doesn't pull me over though 'cause he won't be anywhere near legal."

In all honesty if it were physically possible she'd have liked to slap him when he groaned and sank on his springs. She then got out of her temporary car and walked over to her small garage, opening the door and looking in on the mini junk yard in front of her. The frame and a few pieces of the chassis were back in order, the engine was partially sorted out and the exhaust system was laid out and awaiting final installation once the rest of her car was up for that. Sighing, she grabbed her jumpsuit off the hook by the side door and prepared herself for a long and thoroughly smelly and messy night.

She left the large door open to let Tracks watch how not-fun this was for her. She was starting to like him but he'd hurt her baby bad and she would probably never let him live it down. Never.

* * *

"You know, I still don't forgive you." Messina said, watching the road through the windshield.

Tracks made no response.

"I mean, you're like half way there since you're being so nice about this... but I'm still not going to forgive you."

"..."

"Just 'cause I don't forgive you doesn't mean you can't talk you know."

"Will it quiet you down?"

"Possibly."

The sleek car played a sigh through the stereo's speakers and would have sunk down on his tires had it not been for the fact that he was flying down the freeway. Messina still felt it necessary to manually steer the not-really-old ocean blue Corvette, it wasn't that she didn't trust him, she just enjoyed driving, even the short fifteen minute jaunt from her job to her home. Driving was what calmed her down and it had been a bad day at work so she was really missing the peaceful alone time the drive home normally gave her.

"Hey Tracks, tell me again why you didn't land like, five feet to the left or so? I really liked that car you know."

"I already told you, I didn't have any control over that. Just be happy that I was able to scan the specs from the repair manual." His voice showed his annoyance at having this conversation. Again.

"But do you know how much it's costing me to fix him? Do you know how NOT fun it is to piece together fifty bits of fibreglass quarter panel after 9 hours at work because I can't afford to even get a scrapped one at the junkyard?"

"About as fun as it is to hear you whine about it?"

"No, its worse, I could introduce you to a nice glob of the stuff on YOUR quarter panel if you want. I don't think you do though."

"This would be a bad time to remind you that I need to be waxed I guess, you missed the last scheduled one."

"Hey, just cause I'm mad at you doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep you nice and shiny. I've got an image to keep."

"And I should at least go let Prime know that I've arrived here."

"I still need a car, and since you decimated my baby upon your arrival and volunteered, it's your job."

"So I shouldn't report to my commander when I could in fact be greatly needed just so I can chauffeur you around?"

"You never said anything about him being your commander. But I still do greatly need you."

Tracks groaned. He hadn't meant to hit the girl's car when he landed on earth, he just had. He wasn't normally the kind of Autobot to agree to replace someone's transportation, but how she had started crying had made him feel horrible. And it had been one very nice car. It didn't mean that he was any less annoyed by this turn of events though. He never realized that aiding her would take so long.

"So... Can you just call your commander, or is this an in person kind of thing?" Messina asked, popping the blinker on and shifting onto the offramp for another freeway.

"It would be best to report in person. The message seemed to originate from about the Perris/Riverside area actually..." Tracks stated, hoping that she got the drift.

"Sis is out there. And I guess that explains the meteors that have hit. Can't believe I never connected those to you before." Messina replied. "How about we take a detour tonight and get you checked in?"

"Well, I'm afraid I don't know where exactly the signal originated from." Tracks added.

Messina could tell he was slightly embarrassed and not just by how the seat warmed up slightly. "Then sis might be useful for once. Take over the driving, we need to make a u-turn and head back South." Messina smiled as she dug out her cellphone. She selected the first number in her contacts, setting the not so small thing on speaker and hoped her scatterbrained sister would answer.

"Hoy?"

"Hey sis, I have a really weird question, have you noticed any... odd cars or planes since about the Mission City Incident?"

"I haven't really had an eye open for them, but one of the kids who stops by the cafe has a real snazzy new yellow Camaro when he had a real beat up Camaro just a month or two ago. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious?" Messina responded, glossing over her sister's question fairly quickly. "You know the kid with the Camaro's name perchance?"

"Sam Witwicky. If you're going to stalk him then try looking around Lake Perris or the roads surrounding, I've seen his car around there after dark on my way home from work."

"Thanks love."

"Mkay chicka." Her sister said, a tone in her voice that could be likened to a kid asking another kid if she _liked_ someone. "Glad to hear you're finally taking interest in boys, I was getting wo-"

Messina hung up, rolling her eyes. "We'll try the mall first, that's one of the more popular areas in Riverside. After that we'll try by the lake, it'll be full dark by then."

"What's put you in such a mood so quickly? You're normally much more cordial with your sister."

"Sis. She just finally stopped trying to play matchmaker a month or two ago, I don't want her to start on that again. We'll need to exit in about two miles and get to the college, I want to look up this Witwicky kid." Messina sighed and took back control of the wheel.

But Tracks didn't let her exit. "I already did."

Messina raised an eyebrow.

"He lives with his parents on Mountain Avenue and is a 'senior' at John Marshall High School, whatever that is. This 'Myspace' internet community is atrocious, its so loud and disorderly!"

"I know Tracks, I know." She said soothingly as she gently rubbed the steering wheel. "But you shouldn't ever have a need to wade back into there again."

A good twenty minutes passed in silence, Messina still steering for the most part but something had been eating at her ever since she had met Tracks. "Hey Tracks, I'm curious about the way you talk, why do you have the American patrician accent?" While its dignified and lofty tones sounded calm it was something she had only heard some people from high end East coast universities speak with.

There was a pause.

"It was one of the first I heard when I was researching your culture on the internet. I liked its tones; is there something wrong with it?"

"No, no, I was just curious." She looked in her rearview mirror as she got into the right lane to exit. "I forgot that this is probably one of the worst times to come to the mall. I'm sorry Tracks, but the parking lot isn't too big, we should be out of here in half an hour if we don't see this yellow Camaro parked here."

"I expect to get the nice wax." Tracks muttered as a purple Ford Escort nearly rammed him.

Messina forced a smile keeping an eye out for any more rogue econos or tank like SUVs. "And the nice waxing mitt; and you get total control of the radio too."

It took about forty five minutes to search the packed parking lot but there was no yellow Camaro. Both were muttering as they avoided the freeway and its horrid commuter traffic, and stuck with the side streets which lasted about fifteen minutes before they were left in empty rolling hills with a slightly rough two lane road. It would have been lovely if it had been green but as it was August the scenery was rather dry and yellow. The sun had just finally gotten all the way below the horizon though it did nothing to ease the thick, muggy heat.

"This is a rather nice place to drive." Tracks said, breaking the quiet that had fallen between the two.

Messina smiled then responded, "You should see this place in the spring, its quite lovely, and if it rains enough this winter we can head up to Death Valley, it'll be covered in flowers."

"Somehow... Death Valley doesn't sound at all pleasant."

Messina burst out laughing, patting the steering wheel. "Its only called that because the pioneers who travelled through were not prepared, its pretty harsh but absolutely amazing. This time of year its blazing hot, but in the winter it is nice."

As they sped around a corner they both saw a bright yellow car pull onto a dirt pathway which lead up a hill. Tracks immediately took full control and followed after what had looked like a brand new Camaro. As they crested the hill, the pair saw Lake Perris sparkling in the moonlight below them and a blue and red semi truck, black GMC, highlighter yellow Hummer turned rescue vehicle, and the yellow Camaro that they had followed all in front of them. There was a boy and a girl as well, both just getting out of the Camaro, who looked at the ocean blue Corvette with wide eyes.

"These seem like the guys, Tracksie." Messina said, opening the door and stepping out, brushing her long brassy hair back. Tracks revved his engine in a response she figured was something between 'I think so' and 'Don't call me Tracksie'.

The boy walked over to Messina, a strained smile on his face. "This is a bit of a private party ma'am."

"But this is public property, and besides me and a friend of mine are looking for some folks, you wouldn't know what the term Autobot means would you?" Messina was smiling her most polite smile though she wanted to crack up into a fit of laughter when she saw all the colour drain from the boy's face. "I'll take that as a yes. I'm Messina Leading, and this is my good friend Tracks."

As soon as she patted Tracks's roof she could feel a woosh of air as he began to transform and she wisely took a few steps away. Even though it still didn't sit right with her she calmly watched as the other four vehicles also transformed, the Camaro was the smallest, and had an odd face which seemed to have a gas mask in place of a mouth, while the GMC looked ever so slightly like he had been born with a cleft lip and his equal in size, the Hummer, had what could only be described as obscenely large eyebrows and full lips. The Semi was easily the biggest, though the tacky flame job made him completely nonthreatening. Tracks was taller than the Camaro, but not quite as tall as the GMC or Hummer and he definitely had a lither looking build, the doors and some of the fibreglass paneling making up what looked to be a set of wings coming from what could only be described as a jet pack, while the chrome exhaust system was what appeared to make up a good portion of his legs. He looked to have a more furturistic version of the Rocketeer's helmet though the visor sitting above what she supposed were his eyes looked like it belonged to a knight. The dashboard computers were situated on what seemed to be a belt, the few that weren't there were on his left forearm. What really stood out was that his face seemed to be made mainly of chrome components and reflected the blue glow of his optics somewhat. What wasn't chrome on his face was a deep taillight red, which was certainly striking. The insides and inner workings of a normal car would never be particularly interesting after this show of metal origami skills.

But Tracks seemed to be all business at the moment. "I received your transmission sir, has there been any changes in the lapse between then and now?"

The once semi truck responded, confirming that he was in fact the leader. "Nothing has arisen, it would seem that the war may be over once and for all."

"That's good to hear." Tracks said, still sounding very professional but also sounding very relieved. Then the group of giant robots got on discussing things, switching between English and a series of trills, clicks and exhaust manipulation which had to be their native language or some variant of it.

Messina had to admit that she was tired though, and that the hour drive either to her or her sister's home was likely to put her right to sleep long before she even hit the 215 interchange. She wanted to stay longer and learn even more about these new Autobots, Tracks had never spoken much about any others and her historian's curiosity was seriously nipping at her. But even the prospect of being one of the first to be able to encounter and record a brand new culture wasn't enough to keep her from yawning and blinking rapidly to try and stay awake.

"Jeez, you really are an old lady."

She glared over at Sam. "I doubt I'm that much older than you, I've just been spending most of my nights fixing my car instead of sleeping." She stretched and then rubbed her lower back.

"What happened to your car?" Mikaela asked, kicking her feet gently as she sat on one of the methane tanks that sat near the edge of the clearing and by a utility company shed. "Did you get in an accident?"

Messina's disheartened and low laugh told her that was obviously not the case, and when she pointed to Tracks with a bitter and torn look on her face it was obvious what had happened. "How bad's the damage?"

Messina hopped up onto the methane tank to sit with Mikaela. "I'd say total loss but that would mean the insurance agent could identify what it used to be." She laughed grimly. "You know, I worked for five years to make my Heph into the most beautiful car I could ever imagine, seven if you include the two years saving up to buy him, and then my perfectly on track life gets decimated by an intergalactic space loogie."

Sam burst out laughing, holding his side. Mikaela chuckled, asking, "Space loogie?"

Messina nodded, face very straight and replied, "Haven't you seen one of them right when they land? Really, it looks like the sky horked a big metallic loogie onto the ground."

The two teens laughed and Messina yawned again, stretching her arms before she hopped off of the tank. Sitting had made her even more drowsy and she knew that if she had stayed sitting she would have fallen asleep. With Tracks now checked in with his boss she sincerely hoped she could talk him into going home.

"Perhaps I should drive home tonight."

She jumped about a mile high. Between the sudden appearance of someone in front of her and the fact that he had Tracks's voice she had been decidedly startled.

"Tracks?" She asked cautiously.

He nodded. "I'm using my holographic matter projector, it's a tool to help me blend in."

"Oh gosh..." Messina could have sworn that he'd tell her in the future that he had a coffee maker, sewing machine or some other nifty but not standard on any car she'd seen silly gadget. After that thought her tired brain processed the projection's appearance; he was average height with short brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to glow slightly but what definitely struck her was the fact that he was dressed in last century's fashion. As per usual he was deciding to play the American patrician, and his 1920s ocean blue driving coat and matching hat would have been quite fashionable in their time. Of course, it being ninety or so years later he definitely would not be blending in anywhere that she knew of except the occasional Horseless Carriage Club meeting. She couldn't help but break out laughing at the now slightly confused Autobot because the poor thing couldn't quite get a handle on what 'blending in' would entail. He had certainly seen plenty of human males during his time on Earth so far, making it rather clear he either had a certain personal taste or he was clueless in a decidedly adorable manner.

The Tracks hologram crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot, "And what is so comical?"

"You are sweets, you definitely need to work on your blending in!"

"How is this not blending in?"

"Your clothes are from the last century!"

"Now you're just being difficult." he said, his voice quiet. Messina could see several of the others in the clearing chuckling and knew that this was incredibly silly but blamed it fully on Tracks. He shouldn't make a scene after all.


	3. Chapter 3: Home

Chapter 3: Home

A/N: I'd like to thank my beta Dinogrrl again, she's absolutely wonderful. I'm also sorry I'm a week behind with these updates, I had the choice of an on time unbetaed update or a late one and I knew the second option was better. Chapter 4 should be out on time next Friday. Enjoy! :D

Mikaela was very thankful when the lunch bell rang; she had been practically falling asleep listening to her English teacher drone on about what they had read the night before. It wasn't that she didn't find _A Midsummer Night's Dream _interesting; she did. It was just that the teacher had one of those voices which when combined with the warm sunlight beaming through the windows proved to be extraordinarily drowsing. She stretched before putting her spiral notebook and pen into her backpack, then walked slowly from the classroom. She strolled through the side exit of the school's main building and over to the student parking lot. Sam was leaning against Bee, wearing a pair of sunglasses and she couldn't help but chuckle at his attempt to look cool. It was obvious he was trying very hard and she tried to keep a straight face to humor him.

"Hey Sam." She said, approaching her two friends. Sam's cool act cracked as he smiled goofily and moved around Bee to open the passenger door for her. She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then whispered in his ear, "Such a gentlemen. I like that." She then slid into the plush leather seat of the Camaro.

The goofy smile didn't leave his face as he went back around and got into the driver's seat. As Bee eased out of the parking lot his cool voice came through the speakers. "How did you do on your math test Mikaela?"

She smiled. "I aced it. What about you Sam?" His embarrassed laugh said it all and she only gave him a playful punch on the arm and the small quip, "Maybe we shouldn't study together so much, it seems to distract you from actually studying."

"Oh no, no, you are definitely helping. You're just better at math than me." His hurried and stumbling response was sweet to Mikaela, if a bit predictable. His eyes strayed to the road, seemingly confused. "Hey Bee, where're we going today?"

"The orange groves near Victoria Avenue."

Sam nodded silently, looking to Mikaela when she rested her hand on the one he had on the center console. She had closed her eyes and looked very relaxed and serene. "Have you sent in your school apps yet?" she asked, her voice soft and almost sleepy as she still reclined in sun warmed seat.

He looked back out through the windshield. "For San Diego State, USC, and UCR. I'm almost done with the Cal Poly one, just have to finish the essay for it. Haven't even started Stanford's. What about you? You never did tell me where you were applying."

Her face remained calm as was her reply. "Cal Poly and UCR are done. I'm debating San Luis Obispo. I don't really care if I'm not accepted anywhere, I'd rather be done with school." She gently moved her fingers up and down his. "I'm going to see if I can't get some sort of internship or apprentice work in one of the shops around here. I'd rather be using my hands than sitting at a desk any day."

There was a short silence before Bee spoke again through the radio. "What are you going to do once you are done with your formal education, Sam?"

There was a wistful sigh from the boy before he answered. "I don't know. I was thinking about joining the army but I'm kind of unsure on that. I never really planned past high school." He gave a halfhearted laugh and Mikaela couldn't help but smile lopsidedly, knowing how hard it was to make that leap and announce what you were going to do.

Especially if it meant not going to college.

She was only applying to try and make her dad happy, he wanted a better life for her and thought college could get her there. She just wished she knew how to tell him that she would rather be working on cars than having to spend another four years in a classroom. She knew cars, felt comfortable covered in grease on the floor of a shop and she really didn't like the idea of getting another diploma only to be stuck behind a desk, breathing conditioned air all day. She also knew that Sam still daydreamed about being a comic book hero and adventuring instead of living a normal nine to five life. He still got every G.I. Joe comic the day it came out though he seemed a little too light hearted to really be a soldier.

The car was quiet as they finally pulled off the paved road and onto a dirt path leading into a large swath of orange trees. Bee parked a little ways in, under the shade of several larger trees. The warm Santa Ana breeze blew through the branches and drove the light citrus scent around in flurries and gusts.

"I was thinking of being a teacher."

Mikaela opened her eyes slowly and turned to look at him.

"I mean, there's lots of jobs and if I teach at a community college then my schedule will be flexible and I could teach some crazy awesome classes. English would be so much more interesting with better reading assignments, I mean think about how great it would be to be reading Dick Tracy or something like that?" Another waft of dusty orange scented air blew through Bee's partially open windows. He sunk further into Bee's seat. "After Mission City I realized that I don't want to just have life pass me by. I'm just not sure what that means I should do though."

"You'll figure it out. We both will, we've only got two semesters left to."

* * *

Messina whistled as she walked out of the library to Tracks. Before he had come into her life she would have just gone up to the staff lounge on the second floor and eat lunch on the balcony. It was a beautiful balcony, obscuring the fact that it was in the middle of the city by being thrust out into the foliage of a number of trees. At times she missed the hour of quiet reading she had taken for granted the years before she had been brought into a world filled with alien robots. But she didn't want Tracks to get lonely, he was nice enough to continue staying with her and be her car and that meant eight hours of sitting in a barely shaded parking lot in a less then desirable part of town. Alone. The least she felt she could do was to spend her lunch hour with him and take him to some of the nicer areas she could get to during her short lunch break. She smiled as she walked up to Tracks, feigning at unlocking the door before opening it and sitting in the driver's seat. As a courtesy, she always took off her heels before driving as she knew she had a habit of resting her left heel rather heavily on the floorboard. Closing the door she smiled and put the key into the ignition.

"I thought you'd never come."

Messina couldn't help but smile, he could whine up and down the whole state but he really was a nice guy. "Sorry sweets, I got held up in a meeting. We're just finishing up our summer reading game."

The more time she spent with the pseudo-Corvette the more she was beginning to understand his subtleties. His previous comment, while slightly annoyed, was his way of telling her that he had been slightly worried that she'd been half an hour late. "I've got a lovely little turn off that I think you'll like today." She said in an offer of apology. Another clue as to what he honestly felt was definitely how he drove. Today he was quite relaxed, there was no resistance as she turned the wheel to navigate the streets out of downtown and he happily accelerated onto the freeway until they were roaring towards the hospitality district. It was a short jaunt though and they were soon exiting, turning the opposite direction of all the restaurants and towards a small grouping of hills, stopping on a four lane bridge for a red light.

"Why are there train tracks through here?" Tracks's question was simple and quite understandable as there was not much in the way of factories in the area, only a granary.

Messina looked at the long solitary stretch of track, it went clear into the horizon on either side of the bridge. "This area used to produce a lot of steel, that industry left a while back though. The line is still used just not very much any more. It doesn't stop at the station here, it only goes straight to L.A. now." She looked back to the light which was still red. "There's something about that track, it always makes me want to get out of this town and go on an adventure." The light finally changed to green and she eased onto the gas pedal to continue further from the dispersing city, turning onto an ascending hill road. Within five minutes she pulled into the driveway of a large two story house, driving to the end and into the backyard before stopping and shutting off Tracks's engine. She got out with her knapsack and blanket and sat under one of the several trees in the yard, taking out a tupperware container with pasta salad in it. She smiled back at the blue Corvette. "You can transform, the trees will obscure you if you sit."

He didn't transform though, he merely rolled up so that he was parked close to her. "If this house isn't yours, would this not be considered trespassing?"

Laughing lightly, she stirred her salad then responded, "I suppose, but no one has lived here as long as I've come by. Its almost like public property. Besides, look at this vista, it'd be a shame for it to go to waste." She turned her attention to the view; the whole city was visible as well as parts of the other cities which mingled with the borders of her hometown. The small river that cut the city in half and several sets of train tracks were quite visible as well as the three major freeways of the area which made a large square shape. It was a very dry landscape, dominated by browns, tans and yellows with few swaths of green.

"Why is there such a large airport in this area? It does not seem to fit with the economic profile you've described to me." Tracks's voice was quiet and blended in with the warm fall air somewhat.

Messina looked to the rather sparsely populated area, the large airport had no activity at the moment. The only thing she even remembered as being remotely active when she had last been there had been the small air force officers' club on the edge of the property. "That used to be Norton Air Force Base, but they closed it down in '94, little need for it they said. It was turned into the city's International Airport but when they got a hold of a plot that could expand to more than one landing strip they up and left about six months ago. Sitting clear empty ever since, even the Red Cross stopped using it as an evacuation facility." She took a bite of the cold pasta, staring at the sadly empty base. Her dad had taken her on a tour when it had still been an operating military base. She didn't remember much, but seeing it completely empty was rather sad.

"Hey Tracks, the Autobots are still looking for a base aren't they?"

The low, short rumble from the v8 engine was a confirmation; a favorite of his as Messina thought about it as that was just as common as a simple yes. A warm breeze blew across the hillside, the first of the Santa Anas.

"What about Norton then? It's out of the way for most people but not so out there that it's suspicious, it's got lots of space, a landing strip and since it's a base it shouldn't be that hard to secure."

The breeze filled the silence warmly. She wasn't sure if he was thinking on the idea or trying to think of a way to turn it down nicely. It was still a beautiful afternoon and it was only a suggestion so she did not worry how he felt on the issue. She merely wanted to try and help her friend. Closing her eyes, she listened to the few sounds that the secluded hills offered. The faint hum of the freeway wafted in and out on the precarious breeze which rustled the trees. She didn't hear a single person, most of the hillside homes had been put on the market as the housing bubble had burst and now sat empty, still unsold. While it made for a pleasant lunch spot it also brought an uneasy, empty feeling to the area as if the earth itself was holding its breath, knowing that something was approaching that everyone was oblivious to.

Tracks's voice mingled nicely with the moving sounds of the leaves when he finally responded. "Optimus thinks it is an interesting idea, Messina. It does seem like a good candidate."

She smiled, laying back on the blanket while she wondered what it would be like to be able to talk with others without having to speak it aloud. To have a cell phone in her brain as it were. She couldn't help but lament at the loss of vocal noises from her ears which would occur, speaking had a certain lovely sound to it. Words could be so beautiful and artful, even uncertain or confused ones. Staring up at the shifting leaves in the trees she wondered if there were trees where Tracks had come from. He had never told her about his home world, but she had never thought to ask him before.

"Do you have trees where you are from, Tracks?"

"No." His response was quiet still, but not particularly sad in sound. "Cybertron was more like one of this planet's industrial districts, and in my time it was decaying. Your world is very vibrant. It is a nice contrast; I enjoy it."

Messina smiled up to the sun streaming through the leaves. "It can be a wondrous place, even though we can never experience it the same way." She closed her eyes and felt the temptation of a nap gnawing at her.

A light humming sound drifted through a pop of breeze and when she drug her eyes open she saw his holoform sitting next to her on the blanket. He wasn't wearing the same driving coat and hat as he had been the previous time he had appeared but was now in a trimly cut leather jacket, sewn in blocks of blue, grey and white like a piece of motorcycle gear but emblazoned with a Corvette emblem on each sleeve and had "Corvette" across the chest. His hair was in a short Caesar cut but still the same greyish brown as the previous time she had seen his human hologram. He didn't turn to look at her fully but gave her a smile.

She smiled back at him and closed her eyes. "Can't hurt to try I suppose." And with that the two continued to enjoy the autumn weather, sitting underneath the trees under the dappled sunlight and taking in the small details peculiar to their location.


	4. Chapter 4: The Secret Search

Chapter 4: The Secret Search

A/N: Again, thanks to Dinogrrl. You're a marvellous beta! Also, I went to the TF 07 showing in Dallas yesterday and the trailer was awesome. So excited!

The worst thing about November in Messina's opinion was definitely how often her coworkers called in "sick". Everyone knew no one really was, but during the holidays no one really wanted to come into work. She wanted to be tucked away in her bed too but she had a better work ethic. It just got annoying when the all two people of the Interlibrary Loan Department decided to call in, leaving her, the only one with experience in that division, to be switched over to that dank little closet. Today was a better day though, she had a student worker to fetch the books and articles she needed to scan so she really didn't have all too much to do. Not many people requested things from their library, the best they had were some old journals from local historians and explorers.

One such was requested that day though, and when the student worker brought her the old decrepit tome she was amazed the kid had gotten past the crazy head of the Preservations Department. But she thanked the girl all the same and cracked open the journal, searching for the specified passage. After reading the first few entries she knew that she'd have some interesting reading for the rest of the day.

By the end of her shift she had successfully sent the passage via fax and had discovered that the explorer, Suza Witwicky, had apparently been travelling to the Caribbean to research local legends of the area for the British Library. His interesting notations led her to tuck the journal into her bag before leaving, thankful that the materials which weren't in regular circulation weren't set to trigger the alarm. Tracks was not in the parking lot though. She checked her watch, noticing it was a few minutes before her shift was scheduled to end and so sat down on the back stairs, intent to read more of Suza's logs.

_According to the natives here the rough spot of water we had trouble in is a cursed place, part of a triangle which no one who apparently knows of its properties traverses. At first I dismissed their fear as being caused by pirates but then in the tavern even the pirates said they dared not go through those waters. While they believed the waters were cursed by various spirits and the natives thought it is a hole in the ocean itself I wonder about what might cause such talk. The only scientific conclusion I can come to involves a propensity for terrible weather, a large reef which is not visible or some sort of submerged detritus like ruins. I am not sure what to make of this but at the moment I think weather may be the best of these explanations as I saw little evidence of anything beneath the water's surface save for aquatic fauna..._

"Messina?"

Her eyes shot up to see the blue Corvette pulled in front of her. She glanced at her watch as she put the journal back into her bag, noting how she'd not noticed fifteen minutes slipping by. "Hey guy, you're late." she said with a smile.

The passenger door popped open and after she slipped in his hologram stoicly responded with, "Traffic."

She smiled sweetly at the hologram and gently rubbed the center console. "It's rush hour, four to six is one of the worst times to try and go east. Or on the 2-15 round these parts." His engine rumbled and he changed lanes, moving to a side street to avoid having to deal with the freeway or the masses of people trying to either get on it or exit it as they . "How was your day?"

The hologram sighed. It amazed Messina how much he expressed with his hologram when he really had no need to, he could talk via the speakers in the car and he knew that. "I went up the 'back' highway, as you call it, to Big Bear. It's such a good drive, I even got to shift gears several times due to some of the hills and tight turns." Even if his hologram didn't have a dreamy look plastered on his face she could tell by the lulling and purring of his engine and slow speed with which he took the turns on their course that he was very, very content. Then again, peace times after a long war tended to have that effect on people, especially when one was able to find incredibly nice distractions.

"How was your day?" He inquired, "What story did you read to the younglings?"

She laughed. "Tracks, we call our young 'children'." She relaxed in the seat more as they came to a stop at a red light. "And we only do stories on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today I was running the loan program since a lot of people called in. Not much to do there. I had one request but that was it."

They pulled into the driveway of Messina's house. "You got any plans tonight Tracks?" The hologram shook his head and she got out of the car, heading into her home. She debated reading more of the journal or working more on Heph and finally decided on the former. After working on Heph every night for the last three weeks she was ready for a night off. She changed out of her suit and into a gauzy painted skirt and white blouse before pouring a glass of wine and heading out to the hammock on the back patio with the journal. It was another balmy autumn night and she decided that this particular Friday she deserved a break. After settling into the hammock she cracked open the fragile book and began reading where she had left off when Tracks had picked her up.

_I met with the local elder today, he is purported as being the eldest of any island here. I hoped that this man would be able to shed at least a small beam of light upon these strange rumors that I have been hearing with such regularity that I believe there must be some seedling of truth within them. It's a bit startling to consider the idea that a society much greater than our Empire once thrived in the stormy ocean I passed through to arrive here. Or that this society blossomed from a small seemingly powerless gift of their heathen gods. The elder assured me that this was in fact the case and when he began to describe the grand city among the waves I couldn't help but think of the grand kingdom of Atlantis that Plato had once mentioned in his writings. They sounded so very similar, I could not help but wonder if he had heard or read the story so I subtly asked if he knew of the Greek myth but he assured me he had spoken to only two other European men before me and that since they hadn't been able to speak in his native tongue they hadn't actually conversed._

_The idea that Atlantis was a real place and was out here of all places is quite exciting. He did not know very much regarding the relic from the sky other than it was a disk that shone a golden hue and had strange markings upon it. He told me of a family several islands over who might know more. I travel there tomorrow morning, I would leave tonight were my boat's captain amenable to the idea!_

Suza seemed intensely interested in the rumours of the oceanic city and sky born relic and as she read more about the bits and pieces of information he had collected she couldn't help but feel a similar interest growing inside her. It all felt like it should mean something to her, like it was important and she knew why it was so but had forgotten.

_I have talked with the family that the elder of St. Martinique told me of, we are heading back to Port Royale now as the captain did not like the feel of the tiny island we had traveled to and did not wish to stay there any longer than absolutely necessary. I questioned him on the matter but he would not answer me and only bid that I hurry with my interview so that we may leave all the sooner. The family had recently suffered an outbreak of leprosy in the household and had been abandoned by the few others that had lived on the island prior. At my arrival half were suffering the harsh effects of the disease and all the others save for a small girl were showing the early signs. They were happy to see me, thinking I was a doctor but they still were very kind to me even when I told them of why I was really there. They informed me that the old grandfather had died a few months prior so they knew nothing which was of any help. I was dismayed but stayed for lunch with them at their request and will admit that it was as pleasant as any lunch among the dying can be. As I was leaving the old matron came up to me by the gate and gave me a small bundle wrapped in a worn cloth which she said had belonged to her late husband. I thanked her and returned to the boat where I inspected the contents: several fragments of stone with strange carvings upon them and a very thin notebook which was roughly written in their native language. I've packed the stone fragments away and have started working on translating the notes. From what I have read so far this family has apparently passed the story of a golden disk that fell from the sky down for as long as their family has been. I am excited and when we finally make landfall again I plan to gather up some candles so that I may continue work on translating this very night!_

She just couldn't help reading entry after entry, trying to place the familiar feeling, and trying to find out more about the object and city through Suza's own discoveries. The warm breeze and faint music coming from the driveway in front of the garage were more powerful than her curiosity though and soon she fell asleep, incredibly comfortable and safe in her backyard.

When Messina woke up it was completely dark out, though the crickets and birds chirping filled the warm air of the night so that it was pleasant. She stretched and got out of the hammock, picking up her book and wine glass. Tracks was still sitting in the driveway and she could hear a couple of car horns at the intersection a ways down. She stood at the edge of the wooden deck and looked at the stars, noticing a slight whirring noise but she chalked it up to the powerlines that ran over the wall separating hers and her back neighbour's yards. Then she realized Tracks's hologram was standing next to her. "I thought you were taking a nap." She said quietly.

Tracks chuckled. "I was. I set my motion sensor on though."

She ran her thumb up and down the wine glass's stem and continued looking at the few stars which were visible through the smog and light pollution. She kept her eyes on the stars and asked, "Can we see your home from here or is it too far away?"

"I'll take you were we can see it."

She looked at the hologram and found him smiling and couldn't help but smile back.

"Just let me put on some shoes."

And after depositing her wine glass and the journal on a table by the screen door and slipping on a pair of shoes that lay by the couch she went back outside to find Tracks had pulled down the driveway so he could open the passenger door again. He hadn't used his holoform all that much before so three uses in one day was odd, though she wouldn't question it. Maybe he was just trying out her point of view for a while.

She quietly got into the low bucket seat and buckled her safety belt as he backed out of the driveway onto the quiet street. He chose to still avoid the freeway and this time went several streets over, making a left and heading past the elementary and middle schools that Messina had gone to when she was younger and up the road into the foothills of the mountains. It was a very familiar road to Messina as this was the same highway they had drove down after first meeting. It was a quiet drive, the steady rumble of his engine filling the otherwise silent night, overpowering the sound of crickets and wildlife. They passed the Cliffhanger's parking lot and continued on, turning from the highway which rimmed the mountains edges to the road that wound up the peaks of the range. She recognized the way as she passively stared out the window, enjoying the pleasant drive and wondering if he was in fact taking her to her grandparents' old house or to one of the many places she had visited as a child. It was not too long before she could discern the destination, one of the highest vista points on the mountain range. When he pulled to the edge of the parking lot she stepped out and went over to the guard railing looking out into the almost perfectly clear night. While the city's light was dimmed by the muggy mess that had made the stars harder to see from her backyard it shined through easily.

Tracks neither transformed nor reactivated his holoform but spoke to her from his parking spot, his voicing rolling through the air softly, blending into the night rather than breaking the silence. "It's solidly to your Southwest and very low. It's right before a large dark spot but otherwise in the middle of a large cluster."

She looked out, seeing a whole bunch of stars that way, most flickering a dusty yellow. Then she realized that his home was approximately over her house which sat glimmering among a swath of other houses, next to the mostly empty freeway. "It's like we're neighbours." She smiled and turned back to Tracks. "Your home is right next to mine."

* * *

Sam sat at one of the picnic tables in front of the old ice cream shack, staring off into the dark beyond the lights which illuminated the tables and parking lot. Mikaela snuck up behind him and blew into his ear which caused Sam to flail and fall off of the wooden bench. He scrambled back up while Mikaela laughed though careful of the two ice cream cones she was holding. He furrowed his brows and crossed his arms in a mock pout, saying, "It's a good thing you're so cute or else I'd have to get revenge!"

She brought her rolling laughter under control and then held out the cone in her left hand. "Does ice cream count as an apology?"

"Of course." he said, letting a smile brighten his face as he took the melting ice cream from her. "Not that you needed to apologize."

She smiled right back and then moved in close to give him a short kiss on the lips. "Come on, didn't Bee say he was going to show us the new base?" Sam nodded and the two started back to the parking lot, Sam's left hand finding Mikaela's right and intertwining with it in a comfortably affectionate gesture. She gave him a small smile and gently nudged him with her shoulder which got another smile from him. Bee was parked at the far edge of the parking lot, Sam heard him once mention that he liked to look at the stars and his spot had the least amount of light obstructing his view.

After the two teens got into the seats the three sat quietly for a few moments before Mikaela spoke. "So Sam tells me you guys finally got a new base; do we get to see it?" Her question wasn't asked in a haughty or hurt manner, more so curiously.

Bee pulled out of the parking space slowly while responding. "Of course, we wanted to make certain that this was going to be it before showing it to you. I think it's a good position, especially if any of our flyers make it here."

The cab of the car grew quiet after that, it was an awkward topic concerning other Cybertronians as aside from Tracks there had not been so much as a peep from either an Autobot or a Decepticon. Sam was the one to break this silence, asking, "You think anyone else is going to come Bee?"

There was a slight pause while they drove over a pair of railroad tracks. "I don't know Sam."

* * *

Messina decided not to go out to Tracks for lunch the day after their little excursion into the mountains, she tucked the journal under her arm and carried her little lunch bag up to the lunchroom on the second floor, going out on the balcony and sitting on one of the wrought iron café chairs that had been set out of the shade and into the sun. It was barely a comfortable temperature outside, but sitting in the sun made it pleasant. After a quick text telling Tracks what was up she flipped open the journal to where she had placed a bookmark, the entry for July 21. But paused, thinking.

As she read through the journal, she noticed that an object was mentioned several times. This 'Golden Disk' seemed to be a key player in the story of the civilization. And from the old explorer's notes it sounded as if the golden disk and the 'shifting giants that fell to earth as boulders' might be of a similar origin as Tracks and the other Autobots. Still, she debated revealing the journal to anyone else as she didn't know if it could be trusted, there was absolutely no record of where it came from and it could just as easily be a work of fiction as it could be a legitimate source.

And it did have a slight hint of belonging to a mad old man.

She knew that there was no way to go and investigate in the Northern Caribbean without someone, be it her employers, her friends or Tracks, questioning her as to why and she had never been good with lying or bending the truth to the point she would need to in order to hide her trip's intentions. So, when she finished her lunch and returned to her desk she pulled out a few sheets of her favorite stationary and her favorite pen and set about writing a letter to an old friend who had been stationed at an air force base in Southern Florida.

"Dear Alexis..."


	5. Chapter 5: An Uneasy Understanding

Chapter 5: An Uneasy Understanding (Starscream and his Pilot)

A/N: Look who is back from the dead. I finally got inspiration for this chapter, thank god. Chapter 6 will be up next Monday, it is already written I just need to reread it.

Alexis Paxton held one of the most inconspicuous jobs in the air force. Having been waitlisted for her tour of duty in the Middle East she had been assigned to a base on the coast of Florida to help patrol the waters around the peninsula. She couldn't help but wonder why the military bothered with a patrol in the area, their Caribbean neighbours posed little threat. All she knew was that it was a nice stopover before being shipped over to the front lines and that it would be a shorter flight than from her hometown in Southern California.

After just finishing dinner she was on her way to her plane. She had been assigned the evening patrol. Spotting her mechanic she diverted her course to go and talk to him. "Hey Thomwick you ever gonna get around to painting my baby's name on him?" She said, a smile on her face.

The mechanic chuckled. "Yeah yeah I'll get to it when I get to it. Would you rather the planes fly or look pretty?"

"Star hasn't needed any repairs the entire time I've been here, maybe you could bump up my work order a bit hm? Besides, it shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes and there might be a pudding cup in it for you when you get it done," She said jovially, "Now I have to jet, I've got night patrol." She waved as she left the cafeteria, heading over to the pavement where her F-22 sat. She loved her plane more than anything else in the world and it took her only a short time to launch into the night sky and start off on her "patrol". Sitting in the spacious cockpit, feeling the slight vibrations from the racing air outside through the controls was where she was most content, relaxed and safe. An F-22 was like a good dog, especially since she had gotten so used to this one specifically. It was more than a mere machine; it was a companion made of steel.

The consistent grumble of the engines and the dark cloudy sky surrounding her only reminded Alexis that it was very late and that she was tired. The seat was warm and comfortable and it did not take long for her to drift into a halfway slumber. The blaring of warnings roused her though as she found herself in a nose dive and heading straight for the dark, vast ocean. She quickly tried to right her course but the controls were stuck.

"Come on Star, help me out here!" She cried, trying desperately to pull up and not crash into the black waves.

A cold and mechanical voice came from around her, "Oh fine spoilsport."

The aircraft was suddenly coming out of the nosedive effortlessly and resuming a safe, albeit, ascending course. Alexis stared at the control panel then spoke what she had to admit was the silliest thing she'd ever said, "Did you just speak, Star?"

There was a pause before she got the answer that either of them would in later recollections undoubtably call idiotic.

"No."

Alexis looked at her hands while trying to figure out if this was a hallucination.

"And stop calling me Star, its Star_scream_."

She knew that either she was in the midst of a very serious hallucination or her F-22 was indeed talking to her. And she could not think of a better way to test this madness than to indulge in more. "So, um, do all F-22's have this feature or are you unique in this?"

The aircraft's reply was condescending and haughty, "Do I seem like just another human made aircraft?" With this being said the ascent roughly went steeper and swifter so they broke through the clouds.

Alexis laughed nervously. "No, not really."

They had then completely cleared the clouds, the lights of a city dimly blinking on the watery horizon and the stars near close enough to touch. This was why she loved flying at night, it almost seemed like she was in a fantasy novel or a legend. The fact that her trusty plane was something as extraordinary as a Pegasus only lent to this feeling. But she tried not to dwell on the idea that perhaps her own flying companion was not as noble as the Pegasus from myth, he had made no move to harm her yet and so she preferred to think he had no plans to. Now knowing that she did not have to use the controls she focussed on the landscape framed by the slowly icing canopy.

"I am letting you live for one reason only, human, and that is because your disappearance would possibly expose my ruse. Speak of this to anyone and I will have no reason to let you continue functioning."

He made a sharp rolling turn, heading toward the flickering lights on the nearest shore. Alexis could recognize it as the base, it was approximately the time she should have been returning from her patrol according to the clock on the dash. A voice crackled on the radio as they came out of the unearthly silent zone. What some theorized to be a side effect of the Bermuda Triangle only translated to being both annoying and delightfully relaxing. It was the flight tower hailing her through the crackling radio signals, directing her to an open tarmac and asking about her patrol.

She paused before responding, "Nothing out there but ocean and stars, tower. ETA two minutes."

She took up the controls again, not sure if part of Starscream's cover was to pilot himself as little as possible. All Alexis knew was that she might as well have signed a pact with the devil himself as she no longer had the utmost faith and trust in her once beloved aircraft.

* * *

The base was a quiet place. The government had for the most part packed up and left after retrofitting it for the Autobots' use; they had a small batch of special agents which kept tabs on them but they were not a constant presence. No matter the level, the entirety of the base was very quiet, not even the birds chirping or the breeze blowing through the occasional window really permeated even the ground level, what was the top level of two, of the building.

It left a slightly unsettling feeling loitering throughout the building.

Sam, Mikaela and Bee sat in the empty warehouse "front room", it was the most comfortable of the rooms as it was the least clinical. One of the group's favourite pastimes was playing old board games. It had been a silly suggestion and even Sam had known it at the time but Bumblebee had never played a board game and the two humans felt like somehow he was lacking with that being the case.

That particular afternoon they were playing monopoly. Bumblebee carefully pinched the little silver car token and moved it the three spaces that the dice had told him to. "I would like to buy Indiana." He said, looking at Mikaela. She was the banker for that day's game.

"No problem, Bee. That'll be $150."

As Bumblebee was trying very hard to not rip the little slips of paper the hanger door opened and Tracks drove in. Once the door was mostly closed her transformed, stretching to get the kinks of being in car mode for so long out of his system.

"Hey Tracks." Sam said, waving to the warrior bot.

"Hello Sam. Hello Mikaela and Bumblebee." Tracks replied, giving his shoulders a final roll. "It feels good to be able to move a bit more freely again."

"Messina not with you today?" Mikaela asked while accepting the monopoly money from Bee and giving him the title card to Indiana Ave.

He shook his head as she strode over. "No, she is working on her car again. She says she is close to getting it drivable once more so I think she's going to be putting in more hours than usual on it." Bending down a little bit and looking over the two humans he studied the game board. "What is that?"

"It's monopoly." Sam said, taking the dice in his hands and then rolling them. "It is a game, a real classic. We're teaching Bee about what it is like to grow up human."

"Mm." Tracks said, nodding to doubly confirm his understanding. "Any news, Bumblebee?"

Bumblebee shook his head but kept his eyes on Sam, watching him move his little dog game token the seven spots the dice told him to. "None. The radar is quiet and has been quiet for as long as we've been here."

"That's good." Tracks said, watching as Mikaela repeated the actions Sam had shown just before.

"When are you going to bring Messina to the base? She hasn't seen it yet has she?" Mikaela asked while moving her top hat marker.

There was a distinct pause before Tracks made to respond which prompted the two humans to look up from their game. "The repairs are almost done on her vehicle. Once that is taken care of she will no longer be in my care. She has no need to see the base."

"That's cold, Tracks." Sam said, a frown forming on his face. "Does she even know that's the plan?"

It was Tracks' turn to be confused and possibly dismayed. "Of course she does, that was the agreement we made the night we met. I am only helping her until her car is fixed as I was the one who damaged it."

"Totalled it." Mikaela corrected. "And I'm with Sam, that is a little cold Tracks."

"I think what Tracks is saying is that he does not wish to get her involved with the Autobots as an organization any more than is necessary. There is still risk included with our company. I am sure you'll still keep up with her."

"Of course, we're friends." Tracks responded, his voice making it clear he was almost offended at the thought he would not have.

"Exactly." Bumblebee confirmed, taking the dice once more. "This is part and parcel to our life. We make friends on the worlds we visit but we come in and out of their lives. If possible we try not to involve others directly with our cause because it can make them a target but we are still friends."

As Bumblebee moved his game token across the 'Go' square Mikaela counted out $200 of the colorful fake money. "We're only here because we were directly involved with Mission City, right? Chances are any unsavory types already know Sam and I are with you guys so that is why you involve us so completely?" She asked, handing the small stack of bills to the large yellow robot.

"Yes. Otherwise we would want you to be able to live a much more normal human life. We regret you don't quite get to do that any more."

* * *

Starscream was utterly annoyed with having to pose undercover in such a humid mucky place. How in the world wasn't he the one making plans? He was the air commander after all, the highest ranking of the Decepticons with Megatron gone! But here he was in the boondocks of some Primus forsaken peninsula called "Florida". Sure, just about every Decepticon was positioned in an out of the way place, Skywarp was in the Sea of Japan, Thundercracker was in some place called "Greece", but for himself, the glorious aerial commander, to be so tucked away on this far-flung dirt ball was maddening! He should be at the new base, planning the plans and giving the orders. He should at least know where the new base was but as it stood he was fairly certain they had not obtained one yet. Either way, Shockwave was keeping everything and everyone in the dark.

He continued his upset musings silently as the small human femme walked over towards him once again. At least her patrols provided a spot of entertainment.

When Alexis was on the afternoon tarmac again, heading for Starscream, she conceded that she felt a few butterflies in her stomach. It wasn't just that she had fallen asleep on her patrol two nights before and dreamt that her plane was in fact sentient (if a bit condescending), it was that part of her brain was convinced that it hadn't been a dream at all. She strode over to the F-22, the mechanic was just packing up his kit and tipped his hat to her as she approached. Smiling at him, she gave him a friendly nod of her head. She couldn't help but be astonished that of all of the days he would finally get around to painting her nickname for her plane underneath her own he chose the day she wasn't sure if her plane had threatened and chastised her about just that the night before. But not wanting to draw attention to herself she lithely climbed into the cockpit and buckled herself in the tight harness. The sound of the canopy clicking locked was much louder than she remembered and she began to wonder why she hadn't been a school teacher like her mom had wanted.

"Radio silence to begin in three, two, on-"

The words of the control tower made Alexis aware that she had launched and already gotten far into her flight without being conscious of it. She'd been lost in thought somewhat before while on flights but she had never been completely out of it and gotten the plane into the assignment before.

"And now it is just me and a plane I should hae no doubt shouldn't actually talk but I just can't be sure on whether or not it can." She said, checking all the gauges before taking stock of the outside world.

"And why shouldn't I talk, human?"

Alexis let go of the controls and rubbed her face. "Damn, I was really sure I had been asleep and that part about you being a super advanced piece of tech was all a dream."

"You should feel blessed to have met a god like me and not been immediately killed."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, you seem very benevolent."

"Don't you disrespect me, little human!" He didn't sound threatening at all, he sounded flustered and while the swift roll he went into did make Alexis a little dizzy she wouldn't have really called it a punishment. She'd been put through her paces with the instructor in flight school.

'Of course I get the one F-22 in the military that is an egotistical maniac.' She thought while checking the time on her watch. The patrol flights were going to be two hours a day of annoyance if things kept up. Though she had to admit that some of the stunts he pulled were fun and if anybody happened to see those loops and barrel rolls she'd get some definite street cred among the pilots. All she had to do for that was put up with her plane's rantings.

And if her luck at almost completely ignoring the rather prolonged ramblings about how he hated her and the mechanic who painted that terrible nickname on him held out she wouldn't have a problem until she got deployed and left that crazy plane behind.

* * *

Alexis stretched as she walked to the mailroom, her uniform was pressed and neat and her hair was pulled into two low pigtails. She fished out her key from her keyring and opened the small metal box. This day only had a small white envelope, a letter. She tore it open as she gently kicked the little mailbox's door closed and began to read the letter quietly to herself.

"Dear Alexis, I know I haven't written in a while but I have a favour only you can help with..."


	6. Chapter 6: Underneath the Moon

Chapter 6: Underneath the Moon

Ever since their sojourn back up the mountain, Messina had taken to sitting out at night with Tracks and watching the stars come out as the long cool nights drew on through the winter. When it started raining through January and February though she stopped, returning to finishing Heph, who was truly in a workable condition though she couldn't bring herself to tell Tracks such. She'd grown very fond of the aristocratic Autobot and would be sad to see his company gone. She was happy to have Heph almost completely repaired though, no matter how close she had become with Tracks she would always cherish her beat up rust bucket of a Corvette dearly. "So Heph, whaddya think of this weather? Right terrible I say!" She said, patting the still rather hideous vehicle on the backend.

"But it's needed in order to replenish the flora of the landscape."

Messina turned to find Tracks pulling into the garage. She had cleared out half of it for him as soon as the news had first mentioned rain. His speech had taken a certain human element to it- though it still clearly was off the mark of being spoken from the early thirty year old form that he used as his holoform.

"True true, I'll give you that. Anything fun today?" She wasn't very sure of what he did during the day while she wasn't with him but was kind of curious.

"Another Autobot has come in range of the Earth, his projected landing will be along the Southern coastline several days from now. Around midday."

"The space shuttle will be near there!" Messina burst in, dropping her wrench onto the floor. "He won't hit it will he?"

Tracks had activated his holoform by this point and picked up the wrench for her. "We certainly hope not, though in case of such a misfortune Prime is sending me out to the area."

Messina took the wrench and realized that she should tell Tracks that Heph was fixed so he wouldn't feel bad for leaving her stranded for a week. But she didn't, this was when he would pull out of the driveway never to come back, leaving her to return to a life of someone who had never seen an inkling of adventure. But she had seen such things, met them, befriended them and found her clue, her guidepost to adventure, one she hoped to one day share with Tracks. But all that seemed about to merge onto another highway which she wouldn't make the offramp for.

"... Come with me." She blinked and tried to repeat what he had just said in her mind; to find the start of the sentence he had just uttered. He continued the thought, "It would be a great help to have a human liason in such an unknown environment."

She smiled at how he had amended his statement to discourage any thought of sentimentality or want of friendship which was a trait she had seen him show before, then replied, "Sure thing, just let me call my boss and grab my backpack."

"I already alerted your supervisor that you would be away, though it was under the pretense of the Library of Congress requesting your services as both a librarian and a historian."

His holoform smiled slyly before flickering off and the blue Corvette pulled back out into the driveway. Messina quickly closed and locked the garage before dashing into her house to turn off appliances and grab her 'in case of sudden travel' bag as well as her purse. She then swiftly changed out of her mechanic's jumpsuit and into a dress and sweater before finally completely locking the old house up and closing the gate. Track's was waiting by the sidedoor, the driver's door open which she slid through, shoving her bag into the trunk like area behind the seats.

"We'll take turns playing driver as to conserve both of our energies." He said.

She nodded an affirmative, feeling the gas pedal depress under her foot and steering wheel turn before her. He turned left at the main road then right onto the eastbound I-10 which would take them out to the Gulf coast.

Messina was sure that by the end of this roadtrip that she would probably not want to sit for at least a month.

* * *

Log: Autobot Skyfire

I draw closer to the battlefield, the newest planet which has been brought into the fray and is called Earth by its inhabitants. From their data networks I can see what they are, who they are, what kind of lifeforms they have become. The dominant species, homo sapiens or humans as they have termed themselves, appear to possess some modicum of intelligence though they also truly seem lower on the evolutionary scale. On their way? Sure, but they stil have quite a ways to come. Not that we Cybertronians are all too much better, and from their historical logs it would seem that they too have encountered the downfall of their greatest times. But they have repeated the action! And in such a brief span of time! Will we Cybertronians fall to this pattern of becoming better only to corrupt our Golden Ages over and over again to be left in war, hatred and regression? What with the Allspark destroyed why does Optimus still find this planet worthwhile? Especially when human video files show that they are incredibly hostile to extraterrestrial lifeforms? I suppose that I must fall back into my role as explorer, as anthropologist, no longer a warrior but once again a scientist for peace. I do believe it shall be a good change. Fighting always lacked the same excitement.

* * *

League City, TX

"Hey Jade, can you go over to Mission Control for us?"

Jade looked up from her book, her break had ended a minute or two ago but the story was so enthralling she didn't want to place her bookmark between the pages and return to her work.

She sighed, "Sure." And left her delightfully cozy window full of sun.

She was to drop off a packet of documents to the space center's monitering unit which she had never been to before. It was quite exciting to go there, she was coming to the end of her two year internship and had always wanted to see inside the main mind of the space center that had been built for the president's new lunar program. As she showed her badge to the gaurd while entering she couldn't help but stare at all the computers and screens and the several people working it all. On the large screens opposing the doors were a mixture of maps, the Earth was the center with the moon to the side and several fast moving displays of data scattered here and there. She looked at the numbers on the terminals, looking for the one which the packet was addressed to but as she was moving to the box several red warnings started blaring on the moniter's screen. The alerts were also present on the large displays. Soon the workers were yelling things to each other, their fingers flying on their keyboards, two now on the phones alerting other divisions likely. On the large center screen what had to be a proposed trajectory and landing site of a foreign object as well as the projected orbit of the currently flying shuttle were displayed. It was firmly near the city, so close that she would be able to get to the site if she jumped in her car and left within a few minutes.

Which she totally did after depositing the packet in its slot.

She took one last good look at the likely landing site, trying to memorize the location. She had to go east, close to Louisiana. Jade had never seen a meteorite before and the thought of seeing one, and a big one at that, land was absolutely thrilling. One of her greatest loves was space (and the sky, she wondered about being a bird in a past life) and so something straight from out of the atmosphere always caught her attention. It was why she was interning at NASA and if the space program wasn't so competitive then she knew that she'd have pursued being an astronaut. But she knew she'd never have the same skills that the hundreds of other applicants would possess that NASA needed so she turned her attentions elsewhere, even though her head was almost always in the clouds. As she merged onto the I-10 she saw the first inklings that something was approaching, it was faint now, but soon she knew it would be making landfall.

* * *

Messina was currently napping in the passenger's seat as Tracks approached Houston, it was a nice change of scenery to the past two days which had the been filled with the occasional small town and one pseudo-city but was almost completely occupied with dry and rocky desert. While he found the desert lovely to drive though (especially since it was early spring and therefore relatively cool) it was nice to be driving on city roads again and since it was midday the traffic was agreeably light as well. When he checked his radar though he noticed that the newly arriving Autobot would be making landfall further east and earlier than expected so he accelerated another twenty miles per hour and delicately wove in and out of traffic, trying to not wake Messina as she had gotten very little sleep on their trip thus far. She awoke a ways after he had exited the last suburb of eastern Houston after a particularly interesting weaving manuever to keep them cruising at 102 miles per hour while not being crushed by a merging semi truck into the divider.

"We almost there, Tracks?" She asked while rubbing her eyes then stretched her arms as best she could while couped up.

Tracks had shut off his holoform after exiting Houston and entering the sparsely populated country segment of the highway so that he could conserve energy and thus chose to answer her through the radio's speakers. "Yes, though the landing site is going to be farther east than expected by about 104.6 miles and the projected landing time is likely going to be 14:07 Central Standard Time." Messina looked at the clock on the radio, seeing that it was a little past 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Tracks swerved again to slide past a minivan and a Toyota Corolla.

"It only counts if we get there without wrecking."

"Do you not trust me?"

"I trust you with my life."

* * *

Jade could see a rather large fiery mass falling out of the sky in front of her and coaxed her car to move faster on the empty farm road, praying she didn't pass a cop as she most definitely fell into the categry of pork bait at the moment. She had pulled out her state map at the first stoplight she hit while leaving League City and had circled the projected landing site, leaving the map on her passenger seat so she could keep an eye on which highways and roads she needed to take. Currently it looked like the large hunk of space rock was going to hit smack into a rather lovely patch of green East Texas hillside, thoroughly away from the nearest town (which happened to be a small speck on the map she had never heard of).

It looked as if she were going to have the whole meteorite to herself as the radio was staying silent about it and Mission Control had vocalized more worry about losing the shuttle than the actual object approaching. Soon Jade was cresting a hill as she watched the meteorite smack into the base of another hill a mile or two away and set her course towards it, parking her car behind a bush on the side of the road and running the rest of the way to the crater.

She saw the space shuttle flicker as it passed overhead, completely unharmed by the metal lump in the crater. When she turned her attention back to the steaming hole in front of her though the strangest thing was sitting in of the meteorite, it was another space shuttle! It was identical to the one which had passed overhead many a time before, the one she had watched launch, the one she had helped to launch. There was only supposed to be one of that cargo shuttle though as it was a prototype and there wasn't all too much need for a space freighter. One had been considered enough.

Then it occurred to her that maybe the meteorite had hit the shuttle and sent it earthwards while it had been ricocheted back into space and that the crew might be injured.

She carefully climbed down the still steaming crater and went to the shuttle, inspecting it and seeing it had no real damage that was visible. Still, damage could have not been visible, they could be seriously injured in there.

"Hello?" She called out, "Anyone injured?"

There was silence.

Were they dead? She stared at the shuttle, at the smooth white finish marred from reentry, the markings labelling it as property of the United States smeared over with atmospheric debris. She didn't expect it to start whirring and for parts to start moving in odd ways, changing the form of the behemoth shuttle into a vaguely bipedal form. Its face was far up in the sky and had chilling blue lights where she would have figured to be eyes that matched the sky perfectly while the brilliant white pieces of the shuttle's hull blended in with the clouds drifting through the Texas sky.

She didn't expect him to notice her, even if she had just been yelling so near him but a few moments prior.

He looked ahead then down at her before kneeling. "Greetings, young human, I am not damaged nor am I malfunctioning." He paused, seeming to be evaluating her reaction. "Your concern is appreciated though."

Jade's mouth had taken the shape of an "o" and she couldn't help but stare at him before smiling broadly and extending her hand.

"I'm Jade Rivers, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

He didn't take her hand and continued to only look at her, seeming to be thinking, contemplating. What seemed to be a smile spread on his face before he gently lowered his large hand, extending it to her, seemingly unsure of the gesture. She took hold of the end of what she would identify as a finger and shook it in her best version of a friendly, welcoming handshake.

"I am Autobot designation Skyfire and it is a pleasure to meet you as well Jade Rivers."

He seemed to be amazed at her friendliness which just made her smile more brightly, he seemed like a good alien. At least he hadn't asked to be taken to her leader. "So what brings you 'round these parts of the Milky Way? Are you an explorer?"

The hum that briefly left Skyfire was a soft and affirming sound. It was pleasant and melded in with the warm winter sunlight.

"Wow! I bet you've seen all kinds of awesome sights!"

"I have." His voice carried a hint of amusement. "And what little I've seen of your planet has made it quite interesting indeed. What would you say would be the most interesting thing to see first?"

Jade tapped her chin, thinking about what the most beautiful and wonderous and unique to Earth thing would be. "Looking at the landscape from above is very lovely, you can see a little bit of everything whether natural or manmade, and I assume you've already seen the Earth from space. From the pictures I've seen that would be the most enthralling way to get introduced to our planet." The images passed through her mind, pictures of things she would never see but things which were beautiful and wonderous and she felt would help best represent her home.

"Have you seen it?"

Jade looked at the looming alien robot whose eyes glowed through his shadowed features. She shook her head.

"Would you like to see it?"

Her mouth dropped open and eyes sparkled at the proposal of his adventure. "Yes!" She exclaimed, not bothering to hide her excitement. His form twisted and whirred back into that of the large cargo shuttle. One of the hatches popped open and his sonorous voice beckoned her in.

* * *

Kicking the shuttle's standard thrusters and several not so standard thrusters on, Skyfire lifted back into the crystalline sky. His young human companion was thoroughly occupied with staring out the window, amazed by the slowly shrinking world falling below them. He always found it pleasant when first contact went so well, not many planets had given him the experience.

"Its amazing!" He turned his attention to the young human. "I've always wanted to see this for myself!"

He couldn't help but think of himself at a young age, when flying was new, mysterious and utterly magical. It still held some of that for him, even after thousands of vorns of using the ability. "Your data networks signify that your species has acquired orbital transportation and space travel."

"But few of us get to experience it, its very competitve. I don't make the cut: I lack the connections and degree requirements." She sighed dreamily but kept smiling. "But I'm getting to experience it now and its simply amazing! Thank you so much Skyfire!"

"Knowledge and exploration should be available to all. Without the encouragement of discovery and curiosity no peace can be had and no advancement made."

As he broke through a final bank of clouds which normal airplanes would never have been able to crest he slowed their ascent, not wanting to take her from within her own atmosphere as he was not sure what effect that might have on her; what equipment she might need to survive such a journey.

"Though everyone is not made for the same occupation, you surely have your specific task as does every other."

She took a ruminating look and turned her eyes to one of the many control panels that lay before her seat, looking at the various lights and diagnostic readers that would have informed an astronaut many things about their trip.

He had no time to think over her actions as an Autobot communication came in, somewhat annoyed but mostly formal. He couldn't identify the bot by his code though. His only indication to Jade of this communique was a disappointed hum that gently vibrated the cabin's floor. He began descent soon enough though, back down towards the eastern Texas landscape he had strayed from. As he pushed lightly through the drawn out clouds he could see a blue automobile from which a woman was exiting and which then shifted and transformed into a lithe Cybertronian form.

He sent another communique to the airborne bot, chiding him for not even trying to remain hidden.

"I fear, Jade Rivers, that my secondary duties call to me and that our exploration time has run out." He then transformed as he approached the ground, Jade ending up in his hand. "I enjoyed our adventure."

"Your adventure has compromised our security, we are to conceal our existence from the inhabitants of this world." Jade looked distressed, panicked about what the other Cybertronian had just said.

The other human female rolled her eyes, a facial movement which Skyfire knew to signal exasperation. "Tracks, you know we humans are as oblivious as rocks. Its rude to greet someone that way, and besides, you didn't do so well yourself if you'll remember."

She then turned her attention to Skyfire and bowed lightly. "Welcome to Earth, I'm Messina Leading, a liason between Autobots and humans and I'm going to have to slightly agree with Tracks only because you shouldn't have copied the space shuttle you almost hit. There's several large freighter air craft you can choose a new form from to better blend in."

Jade looked between Skyfire and Tracks, "So there's more of y'all here on Earth?" Skyfire nodded. "Wow, I would have thought that giant alien robots would stand out a little more."

"I know right?" Messina said jokingly and smiled brightly to the young woman in the shuttle bot's hand. "Though what with that close call with Shuttle Avenger I think NASA might blow that all to pieces. If only we knew what they knew, what they were looking into!"

Jade perked up. "I can do that, I work for NASA!" She smiled up to Skyfire. "It's the least I can do for you taking me up like that." He gently put Jade down onto the ground and then turned his attention to Tracks while she conversed animatedly with the older human.

"Poor entries aside, it is good to see you in good condition Skyfire." The warrior's voice was low, likely to draw less attention. "You will have to tell me of the worlds you've explored since our last meeting. But first we need to get out of the open. Our base is on the western coast of this landmass, coordinates 51.3, 48.2."

Skyfire nodded. "Care for a lift?"

Tracks gave him a wry smile. "Much obliged."

Both then transformed back into their earth forms. Tracks drove up near to the two happily chatting humans. "Messina, it is time we return home." Messina turned from Jade and nodded then gave the girl a quick hug and a few words of farewell before sitting down in Tracks's driver's seat once again.

Jade looked at the shuttle and gave him the brightest smile she could. "See you on the flipside Skyfire, I'm very glad to have met you."

"As am I Jade Rivers."

Tracks then pulled in through the lowered cargo bay door and Skyfire lifted off from the ground once again. He rotated to face westward while slowly ascending then fired his thrusters once a suitable altitude had been reached which launched him through the clear blue sky.

Messina let her hands relax on the steering heel and let them slide down to rest in her lap. She smiled and sighed. "That went well, all things considered." She gently ran her hand on the dash. "Though 'much obliged', Tracks? I think you listened to a little bit too much country radio on our way out here." She chuckled and patted the steering wheel before resting her hand in her lap again, settling and relaxing in the bucket seat.

"I learned that one from you."

She laughed. "I thought I'd eradicated my Southern accent, who knew a couple of years in Texas could win out over two decades away from it. Y'all aren't going to erase her memory or anything are you?" She stared out the windshield into the shadowy interior of the cargohold. "She's a good kid."

Tracks rumbled his engine in an indignant way. "We can't really do that short of electrically overloading her brain to the point of cease function."

"That sounds rather unpleasant."

"It is, it happens to be a favorite torture employed by Decepticons."

The silence following Tracks's comment was awkward and seemed long, neither sure how they were supposed to continue that conversation without it becoming even more awkward. So Tracks decided to divert their current course to something less morbid but still relevant. "How is she going to communicate with us though? I did not think to bring an extra communicator for such a situation."

Messina chuckled, "You know, our species has evolved to develop long distance communication Tracks. We traded cell phone numbers."

* * *

Jade watched as Skyfire had lifted up and begun ascending before turning to return to her car. As she walked back she replayed what had just happened in her mind. It seemed so distant, so unreal! She fished her car keys out of her pocket and stared at the road a ways ahead of her.

"Did that really just happen?"

A roar erupted behind her and Skyfire, high in the atmosphere blasted past her, heading west. She stopped, watching as he swiftly flew out of view.

"I guess it did."

She then resumed her trek back to her small car, not sure how to explain her several hour absence to her boss and hoping noone brought it up.


End file.
